Beatline Beam 0.1.0-alpha.1
Pre-release
First public alpha. Beam is a real-time 3D sandbox for lighting rigs, driven by
Art-Net — patch fixtures, arrange them in space, and watch them move to whatever
your console or software is sending.
Windows 10/11, 64-bit. beam-0.1.0-alpha.1-setup.exe (93 MB)
SHA-256: 7be3463f3c6f5df6fc5cc58197a8f44090ffab48c9b2f7151eb1a2a9517f41fe
Before you install
Windows will warn you. The installer isn't code-signed, so SmartScreen says
"Windows protected your PC". Click More info → Run anyway. Verify the
SHA-256 above if you'd rather not take that on trust:
certutil -hashfile beam-0.1.0-alpha.1-setup.exe SHA256
The installer offers Program Files by default, which asks for an
administrator. Choose only for me on the same page if you'd rather it didn't.
Don't build a season's work in this yet. The show file format is still
moving. Files you save now will open in later builds — there's a migration path
— but a show saved here won't open in anything older, and features are still
being added and removed.
What works
- Patching — around 480 fixture profiles from the
Open Fixture Library, across 120-odd
manufacturers. Addresses run across universes, with an option to keep pixels
off universe boundaries. - Art-Net in — the rig moves to whatever is on the wire. Beam listens
only; it never sends, so it cannot drive real fixtures and cannot clash
with a console already on the network. - Moving heads and LED bars. Bars are generated from parameters you give
them — length, pixel count, layout — because OFL has no way to describe where
emitters physically sit. - Structures — combine fixtures into one thing you can place, rotate and
move as a unit, save to a library, and place again. Un-structure puts everything
back where it stands. - Arrange — lay a selection out on a line, a circle or a grid, or align axes,
with a live preview before you commit. - MadMapper export — layout and fixture definitions, with a choice of
projections per structure. - Shadows, per fixture. Off by default: each shadow-casting light costs a
texture unit and a GPU has few, so you spend them on the few that read.
What doesn't, yet
- Windows only. macOS and Linux aren't built.
- No auto-update. New versions mean downloading the installer again.
- Number entry is clunky. Known, and being worked on.
- Fixtures with no 3D model still patch and hold addresses; they just don't
draw.
Feedback
Anything odd, anything missing, anything that crashes — I'd like to hear it:
- Discord — questions, ideas, showing off
what you have built - beatline.xyz/contact — if you would
rather not join anything - GitHub issues — if you have an
account and can write up steps to reproduce
Telling me your GPU and what you were doing at the time helps more than anything
else.
Beatline Beam is free software under the
GPLv3, built on
ASLS Studio © ASLS-org 2021.